Arab-American stuck in limbo at Israeli border entry

Updated 10:39 pm, Saturday, March 9, 2013

Photo: Photo Courtesy Nour Joudah

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Nour Joudah enjoyed her first semester teaching English at a Christian school in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The job had allowed her to connect with her family's roots as well as with relatives - they are from Gaza - and given her a chance to directly influence some of the smartest Palestinian kids in Israel. But when she returned from a Christmas vacation spent visiting friends in Jordan, Israeli border agents would not let her back in. She had a valid visa allowing her multiple reentries, and she had not been involved in any sort of controversy during her residency there. less

Nour Joudah enjoyed her first semester teaching English at a Christian school in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The job had allowed her to connect with her family's roots as well as with relatives - they are ... more

Photo: Photo Courtesy Nour Joudah

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Nour Joudah, center, shown with some of the ninth-grade English students she taught for one semester at Ramallah Friends School, was denied entry to Israel after leaving the country for a Christmas holiday.

Nour Joudah, center, shown with some of the ninth-grade English students she taught for one semester at Ramallah Friends School, was denied entry to Israel after leaving the country for a Christmas holiday.

Photo: Photo Courtesy Nour Joudah

Arab-American stuck in limbo at Israeli border entry

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Arabian-born but American-bred, Nour Joudah grew up near an Army base in the mid-South, far in every respect from the Palestinian homeland her mother and father had once known.

But the tug of blood and history was strong, pulling her first to graduate school - she was an exemplary student at Georgetown University's Center for Arabic Studies - and then back to the ancient turf itself, even if it bore a new name and a much different identity.

Joudah's first semester teaching English at a private Christian school in Ramallah, a West Bank city about six miles north of Jerusalem, was everything she had hoped.

Her ninth-grade Palestinian students were bright and talented, as one might expect of the children of relative privilege. She loved their potential, they her passion.

After a brief Christmas visit to see college friends in Jordan, the 25-year-old was eager to start fresh.

But today, more than two months after her vacation, Joudah remains in Jordan, spinning her wheels and talking to lawyers. She cannot go back, and she doesn't know why.

Her Israeli visa is valid and allows her to exit the country and return at will. But twice, border security agents have simply said no.

"There was no accusation made," she said. "I know of people who were denied entry where there was some accusation, even if it was not justified. But in my case, no."

For the moment, Joudah is a woman without a place. Most of her family lives in Houston, but she feels no reason to be here. Her job and her apartment are denied her. Friends in Amman have taken her in, but her life is a limbo of hope, anger and frustration while her appeal navigates Israeli courts.

"I'm in constant contact with students," she said. "I've told them being gone does not mean that I am not still their teacher. I even graded their exams while I was here. It's amazing how optimistic they are that I'll be back before the end of the year. But I don't know. My legal case is good."

Fact of life

What seems odd to many is the need for a legal case at all. But it is not an uncommon story, the occasional unwillingness of Israel to allow foreigners of Palestinian heritage into the country even though they have been issued visas.

It's simply a fact of life for citizens of numerous Western countries, including Americans.

"Anyone of my heritage who has been to Israel will tell you that decisions (at the border) are arbitrary and that you are at the mercy of the person you happen to deal with on a given today, and their mood," Joudah said.

Without doubt, Joudah sees the Middle East and its recent history through Palestinian eyes.

She has written a few pieces for various blogs, arguing against certain Israeli policies or what she sees as mistreatment of Palestinians.

But her posts were available via simple Internet search before Israel's interior ministry granted her a visa, and Joudah said she is certain all of her opinions were known when the routine security check was done. One day she was living and working in Israel happily and without incident, and the next day she wasn't.

Wouldn't disclose info

In an environment known for extremes, Joudah appears far from it.

She is neither protester nor activist. She has not been arrested, questioned or accused of going anywhere she was not supposed to be.

She teaches English at a school founded by Quakers - some of the earliest architects of non-violent conflict resolution - and her curriculum included study of Holocaust literature, including Anne Frank's "The Diary of A Young Girl."

Asked why Joudah was not permitted to return to her job, the Israeli embassy in Washington offered little clarification.

"She did not comply with security procedures," an embassy spokeswoman said.

The only thing Joudah can seize on as a possible explanation for being stopped at the border was her unwillingness during the first entry attempt to provide a list of all her Arab friends along with their phone numbers.

She said she did furnish the names of her roommates and close associates, but that did not satisfy the security officer.

"He looked at me with disdain and said a young woman like me should have lots of friends," Joudah said.

"He wanted me to give them the names and phone numbers of every Palestinian I had met from August to December, which was absurd."

Joudah first attempted to return to Israel at the Allenby border checkpoint on Jan. 5.

She insisted that she had answered every question but was put back on a bus to Jordan.

She tried again on Feb. 26 at the suggestion of the Israeli embassy, flying into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

A USAID representative met her and was there to offer support. Joudah said the security officers were polite on the second occasion, but their decision was the same - again without explanation.

'Unconscionable'

Joudah said she does not believe she was singled out or considered particularly undesirable but that a security agent in January simply made a bad decision on the spur of the moment.

She speculated the security service did not want to change its opinion despite the attention of American officials and, possibly, Israeli interior ministry employees, because doing so would have been embarrassing.

Arab Americans have complained frequently of shabby treatment while attempting to enter Israel. Despite their American passports, incoming visitors have been asked to open their email accounts or Facebook pages for scrutiny. Visiting American Jews do not face the same scrutiny.

"I have been dealing with issues of this sort for 35 years," said James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute. "And I have, myself, been personally subjected to hours of frustrating and humiliating interrogations by Israeli officials. This is unconscionable since it relegates Arab Americans to the status of second-class citizens."

Similar problems

Joudah was the only teacher at Ramallah Friends School to be denied re-entry after the Christmas break this year. However, the school's director, Joyce Ajlouny, said it has experienced similar problems with apparently arbitrary decisions to not allow entry, often with little explanation.

"We have had problems in the past of our American teachers being denied entry," Ajlouny said.

"Nour among others received a one-year multiple-entry visa from the Israeli ministry of Interior. The Border Police can apparently override that visa as we saw the case with Nour.''